US, India air forces stage first-ever war games

The gruelling exercises, due to last 10 days, were another sign of the intensifying military relationship between the countries which were on opposite sides during the Cold War.

The exercises began in the skies over the central Indian city of Gwalior after the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Indian Air Force scrambled their fighter jets, Indian defence ministry spokesman Amitava Chakravarty said.

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"The major joint exercise is aimed at building a higher degree of coordination between the two air forces," he told AFP.

The exercises are intended to facilitate future joint peacekeeping operations, not for any Indian combat role alongside US forces, press reports have quoted IAF officials as saying.

The USAF flew F-15 Eagle fighters while their Indian hosts sought to match the speed and manoeuv-erability of the twin-engined US planes with their Russian-designed MiG-29s, Indian Air Force (IAF) officials said

The MiG-29 and the F-15s have a maximum speed of around 2,661 kilometres (1,650 miles) an hour and roughly match each other's climbing rate of around 15,151 metres (50,000 feet) a minute, experts say.

Besides MiG-29s, the IAF was also using its ageing MiG-21s, ground-attack MiG-27s and multi-role MiG-23 planes as well as its French-built Mirage-2000 and Russian-designed Sukhoi-30 frontline war jets, Chakravarty said.